Known for his controversial opinions, 1997 Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has slammed Sergio Perez’s actions as “dirty” against Force India teammate Esteban Ocon during the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Mexican was twice involved in contact with the 20-year-old on the run to Eau Rouge as the often combative partnership hit another sour note at Spa, even leading Ocon to claim Perez tried to “kill him” on social media afterwards.
Though not quite so strong, the Canadian was still far from impressed with the former Sauber and McLaren driver claiming his actions were inexcusable regardless of who he was racing.
“It doesn’t matter that it’s his teammate,” he said. “Teammate, no teammate, it should not have happened between two drivers. You’re not so supposed to put anyone in danger.
“You can brake too late, make a mistake, fine, but down the straight, you don’t weave and squish, you just don’t do that. It’s ridiculous. A piece of carbon went outside of the track. You can hurt someone from the public. This has to be stopped.
“That kind of move from Perez is not racing, it’s pure blocking. You don’t do that. It’s aggressive. It’s dirty.”
Though Perez defended his actions by saying he took the normal racing line and it was Ocon that should have waited until after Eau Rouge, Villeneuve understood why the Mercedes junior did what he did.
“Ocon didn’t lift to prove a point, I guess,” he said. “It’s ego, it’s an internal battle to see who would be the strongest in the team. There is this ego thing going on.
“Ocon was very ballsy, especially in the first one. Wow. He kept in it. That was impressive.”
Finally, the former Williams, BAR and Sauber driver described it as an “embarrassment” that Perez was not penalised by the stewards for the incident, suggesting they are too busy giving other penalties for the wrong reasons.
“This is the most dangerous thing you can do in racing and they never penalise that in F1,” he said. “Sometimes, people crash into each other because they messed up their braking and their fighting, that should not be penalised but they penalise that because there was an accident.
“This was embarrassing. They don’t give a penalty for it, especially when the FIA is pushing so much the safety. Even a four-year-old could see it. It’s ridiculous.”
The result of what occurred at Spa is Force India has now introduced guidelines as to how their drivers can race, with team owner Vijay Mallya insisting the team has just one goal.
“At this stage of the season, it’s crucial we make the most of every opportunity to score points,” he said.”We have made both drivers aware of the new team policy designed to prevent incidents like the ones in Spa from reoccurring.
“As a team, we have a responsibility to defend our position and I am sure we will finish the season without any further issues. We have been competitive on every track so far and we intend to continue our strong season with another good performance in Monza.”